The Portland daily press., 1887-05-17
INDIAN RELICS.
Four Skeletons Unearthed In Water
vile.
An Old chieftaln Found In His Beads
and Blankets.
The Ancient Indian Graveyard by IT.
comic Falls.
Especial TO the Press.l

WATERvIILE. May 16.-A considerable
sensation was occasioned in this city Satur-
day, by the fpdingof two skeletons by work
men who were digging near the foundations
of the old Continental House, one of the
oldest buildings in the place. The positions
of the skeletons, especially their nearness to
the cellar walls and an old cistern. seemed
to indicatd that they had been buried subse-
quent to the erection OF ino uGiiJsng. Many
people remembered that, in the old stage and
steamboat DAYS, when Waterville was at the
head of navigation and great numbering
place, the locality occupied by the old Cont-
mental used to bear hard reputation. With
these facts and the idleness of Sunday to
aid, it was easy to send startling stery
abroad. But this morning two more skee-
tons were turned up by the working men,
and with them relics, which showed the
bones to be those of Indians. The skeletons
were very much decayed, but still the larger
bones are, many of them, entire. and the
skulls are very perfect.
The best preserved skeleton was wrapped
in something, evidently a blanket, although
the wrapping fell to pieces as soon as dis
turbed. This body had been buried with
more than usual care and was evidently
that of some distinguished chieftain. By
his neck were found handful of copper
beads, of peculiar shape, quite different
from the wampum beads so common among
the Maine Indians. These copper beads
were made of sheets Of copper pounded thin,
as a boy might pound a junk of lead into a
thin sheet in order to roll it around his fish
line for sinker. After the copper had been
pounded into the sheet, it had been rolled
into small tube, about two inches long and
an eighth of an inch in diameter. These
beads had evidently been strung on deerskin
thongs, and allowed to dangle. In one of
the beads piece of the thong was found.
Besides the copper beads and blanket
there was the formation of the skull to de-
note that the skeleton belonged to more than
an ordinary Indian. The lower jaw and
teeth, as well as the forehead and entire
skull, are very perfectly preserved. The
lower jaw is long and the chin bone very
prominent indeed, so mnch so as to amount
almost to deformity. The brow is retreat
ing as would be expected. From the general
effect of these peculiarities of the skull, it is
not difficult to believe that the wearer of the
beads attained the prominence which seems
to have been his by the exercise of unusual
iirmness and ferocity. In war he undoubt-
edly killed his foe, or brought him home to
roast by the banks of the Kennebec
In the portion of the village where the
skeletons were unearthed, it has not been at
all unusal to find similar relics. When the
excavations were made for the foundations
of the Lockwood Mills beads and other rel
les were found. The spot seems to have
been the site of very important Indian
burying ground. Right by Ticonic Falls,
near where the Sebasticook enters the Ken
nebec. it was very likely location approved
from motives of both convenience and senti-
ment
AT present the skeletons and beads are at
the Waterville Mail Office, the junior editor
of which, Mr.. Daniel Wing, has taken pains
to preserve the relics for the benefit of some
cabinet. The collection has attracted con-
siderable interest